In the world of online marketing, influencers might hold the most power. Seriously.
Influencer or creator marketing has been on the rise in recent years. It’s beloved by advertisers everywhere for its ability to show off your product to a broad audience. Or, more specifically, the audience your chosen creator has at their fingertips.
It’s no secret that marketing agencies love using influencers to advertise their brand, but maybe you don’t realize just how influential these influencers are.
If you’re looking into using influencer marketing, here are some statistics from Big Commerce that might interest you.
65% of influencer marketing budgets increased in 2020
The most common influencer budget is $1,000 – $10,000/year, followed by $100,000 – $500,000/year.
17% of companies spend over half their marketing budget on influencers.
89% say ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels
Pretty staggering statistics, right? If you’re a marketer who hasn’t yet invested in influencer marketing, you probably now want a piece of that pie.
Don’t fear, your comprehensive guide is here! Keep reading to learn more about the in’s and out’s of all things influencer and creator marketing!
The power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of his or her authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with his or her audience.
A following in a distinct niche with whom he or she actively engages. The size of the following depends on the size of his/her topic of the niche.
A social media influencer uses the niche they are involved in on social media to show a vast knowledge in their given field. To simplify, most influencers utilize their social media to show off a specific talent they have. Some examples of influencer niches include lifestyle, video games, makeup, wellness and many more.
That range of an influencers “influence” fits into four different categories.
Mega-Influencers have more than one million followers on at least one social media platform.
Macro-Influencers have a follower count between 40,000 and one million.
Micro-Influencers have between 1,000 and 40,000 followers.
Nano-Influencers are brand new on the creator scene. They have follower counts lower than 1,000.
Popular social media platforms creators use include Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, and personal blog sites. In most cases, influencers will use more than one online platform, if not all, to promote their brand.
How effective is influencer marketing?
To show just how vital influencer advertising is to marketers, look at how much advertisers are willing to shell out on the top creators. Here are the five highest-paid influencers currently on Instagram and how much they made in 2020 per post:
Cristiano Ronaldo – $466,100 – $776,833
Ariana Grande – $391,530-$652,550
Dwayne Johnson – $383,014 – $638,356
Kylie Jenner – $375,224 – $625,374
Selena Gomez – $369,217 – $615,361
Let me remind you that is how much these influencers are making per post.
I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in…
That’s not to say that if you chose to go down the influencer marketing route that you have to spend that kind of money to be successful. There are plenty of influencers who charge moderate amounts of money and have a significant outreach of followers.
WEBFX reports that “An influencer with 10,000 followers could charge $100 per post. An influencer with 100,000 followers could charge $1000 per post. An influencer with 1,000,000 followers could charge $10,000 per post.”
If you have a smaller budget for marketing, consider choosing a smaller influencer to advertise your product. Small content creators can have a ton of influence over their followers, especially if they have a close relationship with their fans.
Use Influencer marketing effectively
Spencer Lee, the CEO of BIGLIFE, said it best during his interview with The Star.
“The effectiveness lies in having a clear strategy – how you use it to the best advantage in your strategy. Choose the right influencers that fit your brand and needs. An influencer is just one of the mediums/channels in the marketing mix and every channel serves different purposes.”
It all comes down to nailing your formula. During the brainstorming phase of your marketing campaign, you want to understand who your key audience is and find influencers who can reach that audience easily. In laymen’s terms, you probably don’t want to advertise a makeup brand on a video gamer’s Instagram.
All you have to do now is locate the influencer who will best fit the ethos and image of your product.
An excellent tool for figuring out what followers are looking for is in the comments of a given influencers post. Do you notice that commenters keep asking where the influencer got their leggings? Or maybe everyone’s obsessed with an influencer’s blush? Or, they might be into a specific type of workout equipment that an influencer uses.
See what the influencer’s followers are looking for, and find out if your brand matches the consumer’s needs.
More Benefits
One of the most significant benefits of influencer marketing is that you don’t appear pushy when you advertise.
When you use an influencer to market your product, they will most likely seamlessly mix your advertisement with a video or photo they would have otherwise posted. For example, many Youtuber’s will base their videos narrative around your product if you request it from them.
Influencers might make a comedy sketch with your product included. They might include your product in a routine or makeup look; both types of these videos have the potential to garner millions of views.
Incorporating your product into a video or photo your chosen sponsor was already going to post is a much more relaxed way to advertise than forcing your viewer to watch a 15-second ad reel.
Jeff Slater from The Marketing Sage notes that the creative partnership between your company and the influencer could be wildly beneficial to your business.
“Producing fresh and engaging content is not always easy. If you’re out of ideas, an influencer can aid your content development process. You can team up with an influencer to create content that is of high quality and aesthetically pleasing to your audience.”
The influencer you partner with could potentially have invaluable ideas for your business! Why miss out on that opportunity?
Avoiding Influencer Marketing Fails
If you’re going to trust an influencer with advertising your product, it’s important to give them adequate creative control.
You may have specific phrases or buzzwords you want your influencers to incorporate, and that’s fine, but stepping on the creator’s creative toes too much can lead to wooden or unappealing posts.
Remember, the creator’s followers most likely enjoy the influencer’s content because of its authenticity. If you control your influencer’s creative flow too much, you’re going to lose the natural appeal of influencer marketing, which is a down-to-earth, relaxed approach.
To ensure that an influencer is the right person to trust with creative control, make sure that you watch their videos and look at their posts to see if your content aligns with theirs. The last thing you want is to have your influencer promote your product in the complete opposite way than you intended.
If giving up total control is difficult for you, maybe steer your influencer in the direction you think that post should go or provide suggestions for the post. At the end of the day, you should trust the influencers you chose to advertise your products.
Check out this article to look at some effective Instagram ads, some of which include sponsored posts.
← Back to blog
